Mr. Splitfoot

Glorious. That is Samantha Hunt’s Mr. Splitfoot in a word. The writer’s lyrical prose (an overused compliment, but the only one who fits) threw me for a loop. The imagery is lush and imaginative; what kind of genius can picture a tree sprouting from a pregnant woman’s navel? Hunt takes seemingly familiar themes–abuse, family, faith, the supernatural–and makes them entirely new. Our characters, Ruth and Cora Sykes, are two women separated by time and bound by blood. Telling their story in alternating chapters, they work together and apart to build a life for themselves in the sometimes cruel, sometimes beautiful wilds (urban and natural) of New York. Their journey crosses the boundary between life and death in more ways than one, with new depths emerging in every exquisite page. You should stop reading this right now and go order this book from your local library. I’d promise that you’ll devour it, but the truth is that Mr. Splitfoot will probably devour you instead.